Obama at 50% or higher in five national tracking polls

Democrat Barack Obama continues to lead Republican John McCain in national tracking polls, today by margins of 5 to 9 percentage points.

The race tightened slightly overnight in Gallup's tracker, but as Gallup said in its headline, "Obama continues to outpace McCain."

Obama is ahead by 8 points, 51%-43%, among likely voters in Gallup's traditional definition. That's 2 points closer than yesterday. Using an expanded definition that includes more first-time and infrequent voters, Obama leads McCain 52%-43% -- 1 point tighter than yesterday.

Here are today's other tracking polls (click on them for details of methodology):

Research2000/Daily Kos: Obama 51%, McCain 44%

Rasmussen: Obama 51%, McCain 46%

Diageo/Hotline: Obama 50%, McCain 45%

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby: Obama 50%, McCain 44%

Update at 3:30 p.m. ET: In other new national polls today, Pew Research Center says Obama goes into Election Day with a 52%-46% lead among likely voters. CNN's final poll gives him a similar 53%-46% lead.


Posted at 02:33 PM/ET, November 02, 2008

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/20 ... 50-or.html